Play Meteor Defense Online

Meteor Defense came out for the Atari 2600 in 1980, published by Atari themselves. It was one of those early arcade-style shooters that felt right at home on the system, simple in concept but tough to master. You don't hear much about it now, but back then it was just another cartridge you'd pop in when you wanted something straightforward and challenging.

You control a small triangular ship at the bottom of the screen, moving it left and right to avoid falling meteors while firing upward to destroy them. The main goal is to survive as long as possible; each meteor you hit splits into smaller, faster fragments that quickly fill the screen. The pacing starts slow but ramps up dramatically, and the difficulty becomes unforgiving once the fragments multiply. It feels tense and immediate, like you're constantly one mistake away from disaster.